The present invention relates to semiconductor electronics, and more specifically, to carbon nanotube field-effect transistors.
Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) conduct high currents for their nanoscale diameters, which is on a scale of about 1 to 2 nanometers (nm). Among their many proposed uses, thin films of CNTs have shown promising results in thin-film transistor (TFTs). TFTs are larger than densely integrated metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices that dominate advanced computing. TFTs are usually used in less-advanced electronics, such as large area electronics (e.g., flat panel displays) and exotic substrates (e.g., flexible or transparent). In many cases, inkjet printing technologies are used to fabricate TFTs, including many of the TFTs that incorporate CNTs. However, the low output current of CNT TFTs limits their applicability. This low output current is a result of several factors, including high contact resistance, nanotube-nanotube junctions and low CNT density in the films.